From Sharon Maher Sent Thu, Apr 8th 1999, 22:02
From Sharon Maher Sent Thu, Apr 8th 1999, 22:02
(1) Would someone like to explain to me why "wilful obscurantism" is a bad thing? (2) If "geektronica" is hobbyism, what do you call the massivly larger population who obsessivly collect Beatles or Prince music, bootlegs, and memorabilia? (3) Sounds to me like Reynold's isn't concered with "geektronica" at all, but rather the precident that it could set, ie that music becomes increasinly non-commerical entity. In which case his position in the music industry heierchy as a lofty and rather pompus music critic would be rather unimportant. --sharon > Nothing against obscurity (that would really be the pot calling the kettle > black I suppose) or unusual formats/packaging, or coveting rare records. But > a lot of this geektronica stuff has crossed the line into wilful > obscurantism. With records coming out in pressings of 250 or even fifty > (with handpainted covers etc), you have to wonder what's the threshold below > which music ceases to be a "cultural practice" and becomes mere hobbyism? As > the phenomenon of music distributed through the Internet, downloaded and > CD-burned continues to develop, this global geektronic network may well > devolve into a barter economy, with bedroom producers trading their music > with other artists through the Net. Momus recently suggested that rather > than everybody being famous for 15 minutes, in the future everybody will be > famous for 15 people. That's what it's getting like, and that's why we > should be getting worried.